Construction on a new National Guard Armory in Manchester and Jackson townships has been delayed for almost a year, with officials still waiting on federal and state funding.

Last week, Congress approved a defense-spending bill that included more than $9 million in federal funding for the armory. The bill now awaits President Barack Obama’s signature.

Though money has been allocated for the project, funding will not be received until a federal budget has been passed, which has delayed the start of construction, said Joan Nissley, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

At this time last year, officials had hoped to break ground on the project by October 2016. Now, officials are planning to start construction in September or October 2017, Nissley said.

The state will cover the rest of the approximately $11 million project above the expected federal funding, Nissley said.

At 39,000 square feet, the York National Guard Combined Readiness Center will be more than twice the size of the current armory at 369 N. George St., which houses about 100 soldiers from Company C, 628th Support Battalion of the 28th Infantry Division.

The new armory will house about 100 soldiers from Troop C, 2nd Squadron of the 104th Cavalry Regiment, Nissley said, and was designed by architects at Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates.

Once constructed, the armory will have a 5,400-square-foot assembly hall and kitchen facilities that will allow the building to be rented out for public events, according to the Crabtree website. The building will be primarily used for weekend National Guard drills but will include classrooms, storage areas and administrative offices, according to the website.

Keystone Kidspace, a children’s programming center, was slated to move into the existing armory in 2019, but with construction on the new armory expected to take two years, plans to renovate the building might have to be pushed back to 2020.

An artist's rendering of the planned Keystone Kidspace at the National Guard Armory, 369 N. George St., York City.(Photo: Submitted)